WATCH | Hendricks puts on brave face amid sports admin chaos

As he ascended the podium to welcome the renewal of Netball SA’s partnership with Telkom in Sandton on Tuesday, the depressing state of SA’s sporting federations may have been lost on Barry Hendricks, the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) president.

Netball SA, under whose umbrella the Telkom Netball League – which has received a further two-year backing – spent the past year under a cloud after former president Cecilia Molokwane was suspended.

Athletics SA came under fire recently from parliament’s sports portfolio committee, which recommended the dissolution of its board over poor financial controls, while its president James Moloi remains suspended.

The SA Football Association (Safa), meanwhile, last month suspended four national executive committee (NEC) members after a scheduled meeting descended into chaos, and its president Danny Jordaan’s court case was on Tuesday postponed to next month.

While conceding there were a myriad of challenges within associations, Hendricks promised all will be resolved soon, though some have accused him and Sascoc – which supposedly should hold federations to account – of turning a blind eye.

Hendricks disputed this, however. “We have been kept in the loop about the happenings at Netball SA. We even spoke to World Netball [about Molokwane’s pending case]. We will allow all processes to continue and will be there in the background to support Netball SA,” he said.

It is unclear when the disciplinary case against Molokwane would take place. She has since been replaced by Mami Diale, as she couldn’t stand for re-election.

Hendricks conceded that the sports administration was beset by internal politics. “It’s various dynamics. It’s the politics of sport. At Sascoc level, we need federations to have consistent and quality leadership to ensure federations rehabilitate and change for the better.”

He refuted claims that he shut down attempts by a section of Safa NEC members to hold Jordaan accountable. Last year, Sowetan reported that Gladwyn White – one of the four suspended NEC members accused of collapsing Safa’s March 7 meeting – wrote a letter to Hendricks and sports minister Gayton McKenzie, asking them to intervene in returning Safa to normalcy.

“Our policy is clear: before you write to us or the minister, you need to exhaust internal processes — that’s why they are there in the first place.”

Hendricks deplored the collapse of the Safa NEC meeting. “We obviously cannot condone that … screaming and shouting in a meeting. We prefer that our federations have a level-headed approach to disputes.”

Meanwhile, the Telkom Netball League will kick off next weekend in Gauteng with 16 teams.